History has it that Halloween is known as All Saints’ Eve - celebrated on the eve of All Hallows’s Day - and is a celebration dedicated to remembering the dead.
These days, Halloween is more known for how it is celebrated: trick-or-treating, costume parties, carved pumpkins, telling scary stories and watching horror films.
The celebration is as popular as ever. The International Council of Shopping Centers reported that the expected total expense for American families spending on Halloween will reach $11.3 billion.
In the United States, Halloween is the second most popular holiday after Christmas, with trick-or-treating the most popular among children and teenagers.
US President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama have in past years hosted some 2,000 children at the White House to mark Halloween.
Children have fun trick-or-treating in the United States during Halloween. - EPA/Jim Lo Scalzo
Halloween wasn’t always about trick-or-treats, parades, bobbing for apples or other family-friendly activities.
The ancient origins of Halloween go back some 2,000 years ago in Ireland, to the Celtic festival of Samhain, which means November.
It was also the end of summer and the Harvest season in the Celtic calendar, where the last great feasts were held outdoors before the cold months came.
However the Celts also believed that on Samhain, the veil between the living and the dead was dropped for one day, and the spirits of the living could intermingle with the spirits of the dead.
The people would leave food and wine on their doorsteps to keep roaming spirits at bay and wear masks when they left their homes so they would be mistaken for fellow ghosts.
Other would light large bonfires in the hopes of guiding the spirits of their loved ones to their resting place by providing them with a path to the ‘otherside’.
In the 8th century, the Christian Church turned Samhain to All Hallows’ Eve, a day just before Christians celebrated their own feast of the dead in All Souls' Day.
All Hallows’ Eve was later shortened to Halloween.
Fast forward to the present, Halloween is celebrated differently across continents — some with its own customs and history.
Halloween is known as 'Teng Chieh' in China, a day to pay homage to the dead. - AFP Photo/Ed Jones
For example, Halloween is known as “El Dia de los Muertos”, which translates to English as the Day of the Dead in Latin America. The celebration begins on the eve of October 31 although the official commemoration happens on November 2.
In France, Halloween was relatively unknown until 1996. Without the significance of honouring the dead or ancestors, it is simply known as an American holiday.
Known as “Yue Lan” or the Festival of the Hungry Ghosts in Hong Kong, it is believed that spirits roam the world for 24 hours. People offer food and gifts for the spirits, to placate angry ghosts seeking revenge.
Yue Lan takes place on the seventh moon, 15th day of the Chinese Lunar calender, when there is a full moon, thousands of people across the city give offerings, burn paper money - with fires and bonfires visible in the streets, empty lots and playgrounds - creating an eerie and wondrous spectacle.
People give offerings and burn paper money for the spirits. - AFP Photo/Richard A. Brooks
In ancient Chinese tradition, the gates of Hell burst open, unleashing the spirits of the restless dead, or "hungry ghosts", and offerings such as these are given for the departed.
The Taoist belief in the afterlife is also celebrated on the same day in Malaysia. Throughout the country, the Chinese community go all out to feed and entertain the roaming ghosts.
Song stages known as getai are set up, and Chinese opera (phor thor) and puppet shows held for both the living and the living and the dead. The first row in the audience, however, is left empty to accommodate the spirits.
In modern times, karaoke and dance contests are held on these stages, presumably for the spirits of the more recently deceased.
In Japan, the festivity dedicated to the dead is call the ‘Obon Festival’ which is generally celebrated from the August 13th to 15.
The period of Obon is also the primary summer vacation season in Japan, when many factories and offices close and workers go back to their hometowns where they place floating paper lanterns onto a river.
The floating lanterns are believed to send the departed ancestors back to Buddhist paradise.
In the Philippines, Halloween is known as All Saints' Day and is followed by All Souls' Day on Sunday.
Traditionally, a group will go house to house and offer a song in exchange for money or food. However this tradition is slowly being replaced by the popular trick-or-treating.
From Asia, Europe to Latin America, we take a look at how Halloween is celebrated in various parts of the world. Click here to view the photo gallery.
